Tomb Raider: Anniversary: The Official Story
by Tomb Raider 101
Summary: For those of you who loved Tomb Raider: Anniversary, this story is for you! The basic story and characters have been included, but Lara now has a companion in Greece & Egypt, a bit of humor is added, along with new lines! Hope you like it & please review!
1. Calcutta, India

CHAPTER 1: CALCUTTA, INDIA

Miss Croft. You all know her. This story so happens to start out with Lara sitting inside of the Imperial Hotel in Calcutta, India. A fan spins around on the ceiling, sunrays flicker through the windows, and Lara reads from her father's journal at the table. Why is Lara reading the journal? Well, she's picking up a bit of what her father had written in his journal long ago:

"_Oh Lara, if you were to ever read this journal when I wasn't here, I surely hope that you would go off to find all of the undiscovered worlds that I haven't found. There are so many of them out there. Vilcabamba is one of the most peculiar ones. You and I have tried and tried to find it… but no luck. Atlantis is also a lost city that I am baffled over. There are just simply no other ways that I can think of to find its location. We have searched the Mediterranean Sea time after time… but yet we haven't found it. I am discouraged, and I hope that someday you will gain fame by finding these ancient worlds… let the luck be with you, Lara."_

Lara raised her head and sighed. If only she knew… where… where Vilcabamba was. If she could find Vilcabamba, she could find Atlantis… she wasn't sure how, of course, but she just knew that she could. And someday she would. She laid the journal onto the table and glanced across the room. Out of nowhere came a man that Lara had known ever since she visited Rome in her younger years to find the Philosopher's Stone… Larson Conway. Lara sighed and turned her head.

"Why does this always happen to me…"

Larson strolled up closer into view, and then Lara just couldn't resist turning her head and looking at his face. Larson had tried to form a relationship with her once, when she went to Rome. Lara had then been invited to Larson's home, where they spent a good afternoon of horse riding, swimming, and playing golf. Larson had actually tried to form a _real _relationship that night, but Lara didn't take to it. She decided to leave once Larson started egging her to stay over and sleep in Larson's bed with him… Lara then replied that she wasn't looking for love, but a partner.

Lara turned her head and looked at Larson. He threw down a magazine on the table, which read: Lara Croft Outstomps Bigfoot! On the cover showed a huge dinosaur, and then Lara with her pistols drawn, firing loads of bullets at it.

"Now what's a guy got to do to get that sort of attention?" Larson smiled a bit at Lara.

"I sure hope that this isn't another one of those schemes that you tried with me in Rome," Lara responded.

"Nope, just business." Larson smiled again and turned his head.

Lara responded: "Well, if that's the sort of attention you want, Larson, then you're well on your way."

"Sounds like fun." Larson pulled out a portable device from his pocket and placed it onto the table. "Lara Croft, meet Jacqueline Natla, from Natla Technologies."

Lara's smile faded. "You mean the same people who advertised that commercial with the bunny rabbit and King Tut's artifact?"

"Uh… yeah, that's them."

"Seal it, Larson!" A woman with blonde hair and a black jacket appeared on the screen. She appeared to be sitting at a table in her office at Natla Technologies. Smiling at Lara, Larson then backed away and she continued on:"

"One of my business men created that commercial with the bunny rabbit… when I found out that he had made the bunny rabbit kiss the artifact, I fired him instantly." Lara didn't seem impressed. Natla could tell that, and then she quickly added: "Well… um… good afternoon, Miss Croft. I guess that we should get down to business." Lara still didn't manage a smile on her face. "Okay, how about this. My research department has recently turned its focus to the study of ancient artifacts." Natla stood up from her desk. "And, with the right incentive, I've come to believe that you're just the woman to find them for me."

Lara glared at Larson, and could easily tell that Larson had been the one to tell Natla about her. "I'm sorry; you've been misled. I only play for sport."

"Which is precisely why I've come to you." Natla picked up a controller on the desk, and punched a button. A computer screen turned on in the back of the room. A pixilated object appeared on the screen. "This is a game you've played before. You and your father spent years looking for the Scion of Atlantis." Lara leaned forward and fixated on the screen. The image being shown was the Scion of Atlantis itself. "And all you needed was the location of Qualopec's tomb to find it…"

"You've found Vilcabamba!!!!!" Lara smiled.

"Well, only one question remains," Natla said. "How quickly can you get to Peru?"

"As quickly as you need me to."

"Good. It's 8:00 am right now. If you can board a plane to England and get there to get your stuff, I want you to be in Peru by 1:00 pm tomorrow. Got it?"

"Oh yes," Lara replied. "I'll be there."

Natla smiled and the screen went blank. Larson looked back at Lara again. "You going yet?" he said in his southern accent. "I mean- not that I want you to go, it's just that… um… I've got to get back to Natla Technologies…"

"Yes, I'm leaving." Lara gave a smirk and walked out of the door, taking her journal with her.


	2. Croft Manor Tasks

CHAPTER 2: CROFT MANOR TASKS

Miss Croft hopped on her motorcycle and took a long drive back to Croft Manor.

Okay, maybe she didn't drive clear from Calcutta, India to Croft Manor, England, but she drove clear from the airport to her home. Her hair flew in the wind as she drove, and you could almost say that everybody that was driving on the road waved at her. Lara was pretty famous, of course, which gave her some attention on the road.

After several winding roads and hedges, Lara pulled up at the front gate of Croft Manor. She hopped off of her bike and walked up to the keypad on the right side of the large, wrought iron gates. She pressed a button on the keypad and then said the words: "Lord Richard Croft." The gates swung open. The password for the keypad was the name of Lara's father, who had died in a dig in Cambodia long time ago. Lara had been sent to live with her evil aunt, and recently inherited the Croft Manor estate. She walked down a long terrace, through a hallway, and past a brown door. She traveled through the corridor, up the stairs, and opened the door leading into the large foyer of Croft Manor. It was 2:45 in the morning, but Lara didn't pay any attention.

A blazing fireplace sat along one wall, and in the center of the grand foyer was lots of furniture. At the far end was a stack of large, wooden crates. Lara had been unpacking when she moved into Croft Manor, but there were still some boxes that were left to unpack. She went over to a table in the center, where a note had been left. Lara read it:

"_Miss Croft. Pardon the mess in the foyer, but a new shipment of antiquities has arrived. We'll plan on unpacking them as soon as possible. Zip should be able to help us. However, this isn't the only thing that's gone wrong. The lock to the trophy room has gone shut, and cannot be opened from the outside. You'll need to find the secret way in to unlock it. I have also placed your journal to your appointed hiding place in your room. Also, the music box that unlocks the music room is in the garden, and the only way to reach it is via a mechanism to operate. As if that weren't enough, the plumbers have been working on the poolhouse and have had to shut off the water supply. Unfortunately, the wrench that operates the water is missing… we'll have to find that as well. I'm sorry about all of these problems, but I promise that everything will be well when these tasks are taken care of. Faithfully in your service, Winston._

Lara raised her head and sniffed. Winston was the greatest butler in the world and Lara had no reason to punish him. He was just doing his job. Lara smiled and realized that she had some work to do before she would be able to go to Peru. Oh well. Turning around, she looked at the blazing fire.

"Well, I'll first need to get my journal. I will need it to find out how to reach that music box, as well as to turn on the water."

Lara rushed up the stairs, up onto the left balcony, and ran to the furthest door. She opened the door up and rushed to the opposite end of the hallway, past streams of moonlight that were coming through the windows. She opened the door at the far end and stepped inside of her bedroom.

Miss Croft's bedroom wasn't like many peoples. First of all, a pair of pistols sat on the tabletop. "Ah, I might need those," Lara said. Then she turned to her right and saw her outfit closet. "And some better clothes to wear in my house." Lara's tomb raiding outfit wasn't what she normally wore in Croft Manor. She took a peek inside of her closet and looked at the selection of outfits;

"Camouflage? No. Catsuit? I'm not in the cities. Wetsuit? Not until I find the location of the sunken Maria Doria." Then she spied the one that she was looking for. "Ah, yes! Sport! That will be very comfortable." Lara changed from her tomb-raiding outfit into the sport clothing. She then walked away from her closet, and when she stepped outside, Winston was standing on the right, looking rather guilty and upset. Lara tried to calm him down:

"Oh Winston. It won't take me but half an hour to fix up the manor."

"I know, Lara…" Winston looked at her in the eyes. "But I just received a call that you need to be off to Peru as soon as possible. The woman said that you were off on a mission to find the Scion of…Qualopec." His face dropped. "Don't harm yourself, Lara."

"I won't, Winston, I promise." But Winston wasn't satisfied.

"No…I don't want what happened to your father…and mother…to happen to you. I just can't let it happen."

"But Winston, you've seen me. You know that I have what it takes-"

"That's not the point. It's something worse. Yes, I am aware that you're perfectly capable of raiding tombs and dodging deadly traps and enemies. But…do you remember what happened to Amelia when she pulled the sword from the socket in Nepal?"

Lara thought back to that tragic moment from her childhood. After having a plane crash in the Himalayas when she was young, her and her mother had reached a Nepalese monastery…and sitting in a socket inside of the monastery was a sword. Her mother, Amelia, had pulled it, and had vanished in seconds. Lara knew what Winston was trying to get at.

"But you must understand…Winston…I won't let it happen to me. I promise."

Winston shook his head and said: "All right. I believe in you." He smiled again.

Lara smiled, too. Winston had always been nice to her, and he always would be. She headed off for the wall of her bedroom where a locked opening in the wall sat. A dagger was on both sides of the lock, and Lara pulled each of them. The circular doors opened up and inside was Lara's journal. She packed it into her backpack- she'd need in throughout her journey. And off she went, back to the foyer. Once there, she made a voyage for the library, which was down another hall on the same balcony as the bedroom hall.

Opening the door, she arrived in another moonlit room. Books were spread everywhere, and a table sat at the far end. On here were various books Lara had been reading, and one of them was The Tomb Raider Times. Like the one that Larson had thrown to her in Calcutta, there was an article on the front, and this one read: LARA CROFT BATTLES THE FEARSOME YETI OF TIBET! Lara smiled at this one and walked up the library stairs. At the top was a balcony. There was an empty trophy case here. Taking a pistol, she fired it at the case and it shattered. Inside was a camouflaged lock on the wall, so she opened the lock and slid back the hidden door. On the other side was another wall, this one with a button on it. She pressed against the button with her hand, and at the floor level of the library opened a tall door. Lara smiled and walked back downstairs, inside of it.

The corridor beyond the opening was dark, but thanks to Lara's flashlight, the place was well illuminated. Along the floor on the way was a scurrying rat. As you know, Lara shoots at any live animal, so within a second, the rat had a bullet pumped inside of him and Lara was even more satisfied. It wasn't too often that she got to attack animals in her own home. :)

The door at the other end of the corridor had a button beside it. Lara pushed it and through the open door she went. Inside was the Croft Manor trophy room. This room was about the same size as the library, with open trophy cases on pedestals throughout the floor. A stairway & balcony was also in here, which led up to another room with trophy cases. Inside of a trophy case up here was the newest of Lara's artifacts: the Eye of Horus, an artifact that she had recovered last week from a tomb in Egypt. Horus' tomb, as you might guess. Lara may have had to break apart the mummified body of Horus, but she finally found the artifact in the center of his heart. I mean, you know Lara would do anything for an artifact, right:)

Lara ran upstairs to the trophy cases. "Hmmm… what's that inside of the case?" An object was gleaming inside of the one at the far right corner. She took her pistol and blasted a bullet at the case. The glass shattered, and behind it was an arrow-shaped object. Lara picked it up. "This belongs in the garden!" She pocketed it, but then walked over to the pedestal in the room. The small piece of paper inside of it read: "11, 2, 7." Lara thought that this was odd, but took note of the numbers and headed back downstairs. She unlocked the door that would normally be the entrance to the room and rushed back to the Croft Manor foyer, and then out the door she went, back to the hedges.

The arrow-shaped object that Lara picked up was supposed to be used in the large sundial on the courtyard in front of the hedge maze. Lara placed the object at the end of the sundial arrow, and then looked on the floor. There were Roman numerals carved into the stone, from I to XII. Lara knew that this sundial must be a puzzle.

"But how is the puzzle solved…"

Lara then remembered the numbers that she had picked up in the trophy room: "11, 2, and 7," she repeated to herself. She then realized that she needed to point the sundial at these numbers in order to solve the puzzle, and she had to do them in order. Within 20 seconds, the gates to the hedge maze rumbled open, and the puzzle was solved.

"This just proves that time never stops." And Lara looked at her watch. "OMG!!!!! It's 3:00 in the morning! Natla wants me in Peru by 1:00 in the afternoon!!!!" And then she added: "And I have to get the water supply going or else Winston and Zip won't have any water to use! And we all know that they won't find the wrench!" And with that, she rushed into the hedge maze to the first detour. Beyond the gate was the center of the hedge maze. Lara then thought: "Ah, I can easily climb this. No need to make my way through that dumb maze." She ascended up the wrought iron fences, and within 10 seconds, Lara dropped off of the top, onto the other side.

"Jeez!!!" Lara rubbed her ankle that she had hurt when she fell from the top of the fence. "My ankle has never been this bruised since those lions attacked me in India and tore it open!" But Lara didn't take time to use a health pack (and speaking of health packs, how does she manage to use one of those so quickly in the video game? It takes about only a second!). Instead, she rushed over to the edge of the stone fountain and grasped the metallic grapple that was sitting there.

"Now why is this here…"

She then looked up at the statues in the courtyard. There was one in the center of the fountain (and remember, there was currently no water flowing through the fountain), which was missing some parts to it. And the statue on the right side of the fountain was holding something in its hand high above…the music box cylinder. But she didn't waste any time staring at it. She instead grappled open the gates to the courtyard and rushed clear back to the Croft Manor foyer. She rushed instantly to Winston, who was sitting in a couch nearby the fireplace.

"Winston!!!"

"Yes, Lara?"

"Have you seen the gear that you removed from the water fountain?"

"No…why?" 

"I need it! And I need a bow and arrow, too! And quickly, so I can get the water flowing and then I can move to Peru quickly!"

"Oh… the bow is on the statue in the poolhouse, and the arrow is just behind the fireplace, in the secret safe. And your gear should be in the trophy room…"

"Argghhhh! I was just in the trophy room!" Lara dashed off to it, breaking a couple lamps along the way as she dashed down the halls, also shattering a display case in the trophy room. "I'll clean it up later…" Lara mumbled under her breath. And when she got the gear from the upper trophy room, she accidentally knocked the computer onto the floor. It crackled and ran out of juice. Lara cursed a bit and then ran back downstairs, gear in hand, and clear back to the foyer.

"Now I have to buy a new display case, new statues, a new computer…" Lara mumbled under her breath as she headed back for the fireplace. Above the fireplace was a small button, which was camouflaged. Lara pressed it to open the safe up behind the fireplace, and without asking Winston to douse the flames; she reached through the flames and pulled out the arrow as fast as she possibly could.

"Lara! You'll burn yourself!!!!" Winston cried in dismay.

"Oh, don't worry." Lara acted as though the burning hadn't stung a bit. "You haven't explored the chambers of Horus in Egypt, yet. Why, I thought those flames were going to turn me to ashes…" she ran over to the door leading to the Croft Manor gymnasium, opened it, and slammed the door behind her when she entered.

Since you probably don't know much about Lara's gymnasium, I'll give a quick rundown. The gym was full of ledges, pillars, rock climbing walls, poles, rings, slopes, posts, bars, pulleys, platforms… the list could go on. And straight above her as she entered was a gray platform. Lara then remembered that she had left the wrench up there when installing the platforms in the room.

Well, I won't tell you everything she said when she was going up to reach the wrench, but let's just say that not everything she said was appropriate for a T-rated story. Anyway, her ascent up the gym was a wild one, as she jumped from ledge to ledge, bar to bar, and pole to pole in order to reach that upper platform. She even grappled across rings, swung along poles, and climbed along vertical bars at the ceiling of the room. As she climbed across these bars, she nearly lost her grip at one point and almost fell… clear down below. This had actually happened before, but thankfully, Zip and Lara had been installing a new trampoline for the gym, and it happened that the trampoline was directly below Lara when she fell. Zip about had a heartattack, but Lara acted as though nothing had happened.

Finally, Lara reached the platform with the wrench.

"It sure is a good thing that I installed that trampoline…" Lara peered down at it far below, grabbed the wrench, and then hurled herself off the edge of the platform. She flew through the gym, and then landed foot-first on the trampoline. She bounced into the air, and then landed nearby the exit doorway, where Zip was just coming in.

"Careful, girl! You're gonna hurt yourself!" Zip exclaimed.

Lara didn't pay attention to his remark. "Why are you in the gym?" she asked. "You're the computer technician."

"I have to work out, too." Zip walked over to the weights at the edge of the room. Lara had recently hired zip as her computer technician- a.k.a., the man who operated the computers of Croft Manor and tracked down important things when Lara was on her missions. Lara and Zip had met in college, and had been friends ever since.

"OK, see yah…" and Lara headed back to the foyer. She bypassed Winston, who had a tray with food on it.

"Will you need something to snack on, Lara?"

"Not at the moment, Winston," and Lara rushed off for the manor courtyard. She went clear down the terrace to the opposite end, and to a gated section. She ran through the opening at the left side, to a large machine with pipes. She ran over to the knob on one of the pipes, and attached her wrench to it. Giving a large tug, Lara operated the water mechanism, and water begun to flow- in every fountain, terrace, and sink.

"Woo-hoo!!!" Lara cried. "Now I can finally get to the bow!!!!"

Lara ran clear back to the foyer, nearly knocking Winston to the ground, and rushed to the poolhouse. The poolhouse was currently under construction, which explained why the water had been turned off. Scaffolding was everywhere in the poolhouse, and boards covered up the (filled) pool. But hanging above the boarded pool was Lara's objective: a statue that she had recently bought, and planned on installing in the poolhouse, was hanging above. It held a bow in its hands, the same one that Lara was after.

"Let's see how my targeting practice has been going." Lara drew one of her pistols and aimed it at the first rope supporting the statue. She fired it and the bullet impacted the rope, but didn't quite split it. "Shoot!" Lara exclaimed. She aimed again, but this time she didn't even hit it. Instead, she hit one of the glass panels on the ceiling, shattering it to bits so it fell to the boards of the poolhouse. The third time wasn't a charm, either. Lara hit the rope again, but it didn't come loose or anything.

"If fourth time isn't a charm, I'll wring the person's neck that's closest to me…"

Zip walked in the room just as Lara fired another bullet at the rope. It hit the rope again… but it was just dangling by a thin strand. Lara turned around and lunged for Zip, just as the rope split and the statue came loose. Zip had so happened to standing right beneath the statue, and as Lara tackled him, Zip spotted the statue above instantly rolled away. Lara rolled in the same direction as him, and the statue plummeted through the floorboards beside them. Lara stood up and stared into the hole.

"Sorry about that, Zip… want to go swimming?"

Zip had an angry look in his eyes, and then responded: "Don't you have a bow to get?" Lara smiled and then jumped into the water. She swam down to the broken bits of the statue. She grasped the bow that the statue had been holding, and then swum out. She climbed up, sopping wet.

"Looks as though you'll be needing a change of clothes before you go," Zip commented.

"Did you really think that I would be going to Peru with this on?" Lara responded. Zip smiled and walked away from the poolhouse.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find out more about the Scion of Qualopec."

"All right… suit yourself." Lara walked off behind him, back to the foyer, and then back outside, clear to the sundial, and then into the hedge maze fountain. She walked up to the statue in the center of the fountain. She placed the bow in one of his arms, the arrow in the other. She then walked down to the front of the fountain, opened a panel on the side, and inserted a missing gear. She then closed the door, walked over to the large lever, and gave it a tug. The next thing she knew, the statue of Gilead drew back its bow and aimed it at the statue with the music box in its hand. The arrow flung towards the statue's chest, spearing it. The statue's arm dropped down, releasing the cylinder. Lara ran over to it and picked it up.

"What a gruesome display, yet so satisfying." And with that, Lara ran out of the hedge maze, back to the terrace. She sprinted along it, and ran clear back to the foyer, where Winston was talking with Zip, in a mumbling conversation:

"Is she crazy?" Zip said. "I've heard that that Natla woman is a tough piece of candy. I once worked for her at Natla Technologies. I filed one wrong paper and she got extremely upset. I even saw a red glow in her eyes."

"I know, I was about to tell her that, too, but she didn't want to talk much." Winston shook his head in dismay. "And I've heard that she betrays everyone who finds riches for her. Take Alex West, for example. He retrieved the Amulet of King Tut for her, and as he was headed back to her, Natla sent a mercenary to get the amulet and then kill him. And he did die."

"But nobody proved it," Zip said.

"I believe that it's true, though." Winston then saw Lara walking towards them and calmly signaled to Zip to stop talking.

"Hello, gentlemen. Something interesting that you were talking about?" Lara questioned.

"Uh…no Miss Croft." Lara eyed Winston suspiciously, and then he backed up his comment: "We were just discussing that we were going to… um… unload all of your antiquities while you were away to Peru."

"Very well, then." Lara could tell, though, that the two weren't talking just about the antiquities. But she didn't take it to her head. She walked upstairs, up to the right-hand balcony, and opened the door furthest along it. Following the moonlit hallway, she inserted the music box cylinder in the socket, which unlocked the door to the music room. Stepping inside, she looked around, and then returned to her bedroom. It was time to head for Peru.

"And I won't be wearing these clothes…" Lara went for her closet to change back into her regular raiding outfit.

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Phew! What a long chapter! Well, I hope to start on the Mountain Caves soon enough. Thanks for reading and keep tuned in! And I would really like it if you reviewed this story and gave me some suggestions. I've tried to be humorous in this chapter, but it doesn't seem to work the way I want it too…

Anyway, look forward to chapter 3!


	3. The Mountain Caves

CHAPTER 3: THE MOUNTAIN CAVES

_"Vilcabamba continues to elude us. I have researched time after time and still can find no new evidence that the city can be found. Jenkins simply refuses to accept the possibility that Atlantis is the foundation of all known civilizations. I would be an honor to discover the lost city. Additionally, I find that it is Lara alone that has faith in me… Amelia would be so proud if she learned how hard Lara was working. If Lara should find this journal someday, I hope it inspires her to go off and search for Vilcabamba again…"_

Lara closed her journal after reading her father's entry from long ago. Lara gazed off away from the Peruvian mountain, where she stood. It was 2:00 in the afternoon, and Lara had just recently gotten a plane ride to the mountains, along with her Spanish guide. Lara could speak a bit of Spanish, but she found that the guide seemed to have no clue what to do most of the time, and nearly fell off of a bridge when crossing over a chasm.

She then turned around and spied the guide clambering up a wooden ladder. Lara could tell that it was unstable, but the guide hadn't taken the clue of it. He climbed clear to the top, and just as he was clambering up, the ladder collapsed. Fortunately, the guide managed to get up onto the mountain platform. He then said in Spanish:

"I'm sorry; I didn't bring any more rope."

Lara responded, in English: "Not to worry. I'll find another way up."

As you already know, Lara is very acrobatic, so finding a way up wasn't very difficult. Here's how she got up: she threw her grapple at the stone edge of the platform where the guide was standing, and then rappelled up the wall, onto the platform- easy enough. From there, Lara walked forth to her guide, who was standing next to the large doors leading into the caves.

Lara said: "Have you any idea how to open these doors?"

The guide shook his head in confusion.

"Oh, sorry." She forgot that the guide only spoke Spanish.

"Have you any idea how to open these doors?" she said, in Spanish.

The guide shook his head and responded, once again in Spanish: "I'm only the guide."

"You're more than a guide," Lara responded.

"Hey, I'm just doing this because Natla said that you'd need help." The guide turned away from Lara.

"Figures…" she said, in English. The guide turned around and watched Lara. "I can't believe that she sends me a guide who knows absolutely nothing about where he is, what we're doing, or where we're going. For all I care, I can throw him off the mountain. He'll only cause trouble…" Lara climbed up onto a rock ledge, and then jump to an upper one. Still mumbling, she leapt from the side of the rock platform towards the doors, and on the underside of the platform above the doors was a ring. She instantly threw her grapple at it, and went swinging through the air, towards the other end. The guide, unfortunately, was standing right in Lara's way when she went swinging through the air, so Lara kicked him in the face as she went flying across.

The guide shouted a couple of curses as he fell to the ground, but Lara merrily responded: "Oops!"

The rest of the ascent was simply easy. Up some ledges she went to the platform atop the doors. Walking over to the wall, she spotted a button on one of the symbolic carvings above the platform. "Hmmm… what could this do?" Lara gave the button a press, and the doors below her slowly creaked open, revealing a darkened hallway beyond. Lara didn't jump from the platform but instead peered down below, to where her guide stood, staring into the pitch-black darkness.

Suddenly, the in the darkened cave, 4 sets of eyes appeared.

The guide looked harder, but it was too late: the four sets of eyes were actually four wolves, and each one came charging from the tunnel, towards the Spanish guide.

"Ahhhhhh!!!!" yelled the guide.

Lara, who was always ready for something to shoot, leapt from the platform to the ground below, pistols drawn. Within a second she had downed one wolf with a quick flurry of bullets. The second wolf came up at her from behind, but it didn't take long for him to get eliminated, either, because Lara did a flip in the air and came behind with guns blazing. The third wolf was a bit trickier, as it jumped on Lara and knocked her to the ground. Lara quickly shot a bullet at its face before it gnawed on her. The final wolf attacked the guide just as Lara was getting up from her knockdown. The guide had already had some serious wounds, but the last wolf ultimately dispersed the guide. Lara managed to shoot at it quickly, though, before it could come after her, too.

Lara kneeled down beside the fallen guide, and gave a short sigh. Alas, Lara wouldn't have a guide in the mountain caves, but that only made her tomb raiding easier. She stepped into the darkness beyond the open doors, and just as she was taking off her glasses, the doors behind her closes. Lara's eyebrow raised and she turned on her flashlight.

"Any more puppies ready to fight?" she said with a smirk.

At that very moment, a dart came down the tunnel, going straight for Lara. Before the dart could even hit Lara, she dived off to the side and drew a pistol. Soon, another dart came flying by, and then 2 more, and then a bunch more.

"It's funny that there are flying darts in some abandoned caves." Lara stepped forward, passing by the darts as carefully as she could, and she followed the tunnel until it opened up into a larger, snowier cave. Lara drew her pistols and advanced forward. The cool air of the tunnel made her cheeks turn red, but this didn't stop her from pressing on. And pretty soon Lara heard some "squeaking" noises behind her. Lara turned her back and aimed her pistols into the darkness. Unfortunately, the bats weren't in front or behind Lara: they were above her, and some of them got into her hair as she cocked her pistols towards the tunnel.

"Ow!" Lara shrieked as the bats mangled her hair. Very quickly, though, Lara shook the bats off and instantly fired some quick rounds at the flapping bats. This quickly eliminated Lara's first enemies in the mountain caves.

"Darned bats."

Lara pressed on through the mountain caves. Let's just say that the mountain caves are very boring, and there are only two other things to talk about: Lara's arrival in the bridge chamber, and Lara's encounter with the bear in the pit.

In the bridge chamber, two bridges spanned the cavern. At the floor level was more snow, and a small den in the side. Out of that den came two, growling wolves, and as any Lara fan knows, Lara enjoys shooting things from her own level, so she hopped into the pit and instantly fired some rounds of bullets. Unfortunately, she missed at nearly every shot, and the wolves came charging.

"Argggghhhh!" Lara yelped.

The two wolves knocked her off of her feet, onto the ground. Before you could say, "ouch," a wolf had come and bitten Lara on the ankle, so hard that blood oozed from the wound. Leaping to her feet, Lara fired some more pistol shots at the wolf that had bitten her. The second wolf came in from behind, knocking her to the ground again, but this time, Lara was ready. She rolled across the ground, firing some rounds of bullets at them as she rolled along the ground. The wolf that had attacked her first fell to the ground, but the second one wasn't down yet. Lara leaped to her feet, fired some more rounds, and then hurled herself at the wolf. Knocking it and her to the ground, Lara cocked a pistol at the wolf's face, and then a loud BOOM initiated.

"Phew," Lara gasped. "That doesn't happen to often.

The other memorable moment of Lara's journey through the caves was the bear pit. When Lara came across this, it looked like nothing but a regular, uninhabited pit, with a rope that so happened to be dangling above it. Lara took a jump to grasp the rope, and carefully swung on it, so she could jump to the other side.

"This is almost to easy," Lara remarked as she was swinging.

That is, until then. A loud SNAP occurred, and before Lara could see what had happened, she had fallen to the bottom of the pit. "Oh well," said Lara, "I'll just climb back out." But then she heard a growl from the tunnel in the wall. A huge, hulking bear came trotting through the tunnel, and was headed straight for Lara. "OMG!!!" Lara shrieked, and she ran away in peril.

The bear came trotting to the bottom of the pit, but Lara had a pretty ingenious plan of escaping. She rolled away from the bear, and hurled herself towards the side of the bear. She nearly knocked the hulking beast to the ground, but she instead leapt up to the back of the bear and braced herself on top of him like he was a horse. She then raised herself up, as there was a platform ledge just above her. The bear growled and nearly knocked her off, but Lara quickly leapt up to grasp the ledge below. Dangling by both feet, the bear looked up at Lara. He growled, and then attempted to bite at Lara's feet. It was actually quite entertaining to Lara, as the bear would jump up every time he attempted to chew on her feet.

"Big animals have small brains," Lara remarked.

Climbing up onto the platform, Lara continued into a huge, massive chamber. There was a puzzle to solve in here, too, but let's just say that this is a bit boring and I don't want to waste your time with it… or mine. Anyway, Lara opened the fabled doors to Vilcabamba by unlocking two stone locks, and then she continued on to the city of Vilcabamba.

**_Meanwhile, in Natla's office…_**

"Larson!?!?!?" Natla shouted.

Larson Conway, the same man that introduced Lara to Natla, came trotting into Natla's office.

"Yes madam?" he responded.

"You have to go after Croft." Natla's eyes wavered. "I have the feeling that she won't be returning the Scion of Qualopec as fast as I'd like her to."

"I thought that you were assigning me to work with Pierre in finding the Scion of Tihocan."

"Never mind those plans. Just go to Peru and follow Lara's trail. Don't worry; she'll have it all cleared out for you. You just have to steal Qualopec's Scion piece from her, and then, if you'd like, just kill her. I don't care. Just get that piece."

Larson nodded. "Not that I'm complaining boss, but what makes you so sure that she isn't gonna bring it back herself?"

"Lara would never part with the Scion; she's far too obsessed with it. Just like her father." Natla smiled and turned her head from Larson.

"All right, then…" Larson walked away. One thing that you don't really know about Larson is that he had a bit of a crush for Lara Croft, which pretty well determines that he wouldn't be so fond of killing Lara Croft. But after all of the times that he had previously failed Natla in her missions, he couldn't afford to fail this one.

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Well…that's chapter 3. This chapter may have been boring, but I trust you, everything gets better once we get into Greece, Egypt, and Atlantis. I promise. Please give me more reviews! Thanks! And stay tuned for chapter #4, where Lara explores Vilcabamba!


	4. Vilcabamba

CHAPTER 4: CITY OF VILCABAMBA

The dusty doors to Vilcabamba swung open, revealing a very dark, and very creepy passage.

Lara, standing at the front of the tunnel, drew her pistols and aimed them forward. Nothing was about to come at her. She carefully edged her way into the tunnel, and up the steps that followed. Vilcabamba was just ahead…

However, a sound made Lara freeze in her tracks. All of a sudden, a loud groan came from the tunnel ahead. Moving her pistols about, Lara aimed into the darkness until a pair of large eyes stared at her. Lara was very quick to fire two bullets from her pistols, and that was the end of the two-eyed creature that came from the tunnel ahead. As Lara advanced forward and lit a flare, she realized that she had just shot a bear twice in the head, causing it to fall to the ground.

"Foolish bear," Lara said.

The next set of tunnels revealed no surprises, but eventually, corridor after corridor, ledge after ledge, and tunnel after tunnel, the passage opened up into a large, cavernous chamber with mossy greenery hanging from the ceiling. A mound of rocks stood in front of Lara, and a small whining sound could be heard from the other side. Lara carefully edged her way around the rock pile, and the first thing that she saw on the other side was a gray wolf diving at her.

Okay, we already know what Lara does when an animal attacks her, right? So we can skip that story.

Let's just move on to what Lara saw beyond the next set of bricks and stone. Here lied the beautiful, and rather isolated city of Vilcabamba. Upon the sight of it, Lara holstered her weapons and looked at the small village. The village was in an underground cave, as you already know, but there was no immediate danger whatsoever. A small pool surrounded by bricks lied in the center, with a small stream of water flowing like a waterfall from the stone rock above. The water was coming from a set of waterfalls above the rock. The village was completely deserted. All that was really moving was the waterfall and the water that was rippling in the pool.

Until then…

As Lara advanced into the city, another loud roar came from one of the village huts.

"Oh no, not this again."

But the sight that Lara saw was a lot different than she expected to see. From the hut door first came a wolf, and then another one. But instead of attacking Lara, they turned to the door of the hut again, and they saw another huge, hulky bear. The funny thing was, however, that the wolves were _attacking_ the bear. It seemed as though the bear was causing trouble, and the wolves had decided to gang up on it and try to kill it. Lara took a seat at the edge of the pool of water and watched the wolves and bear have the fight. She took off her boots, laid them beside her, and soaked her feet in the water, saying "Ahhhhhhhhhh" for a long period of time, watching the fight take place that entire time. The wolves were literally chewing on the bear's back and feet. They were clearly winning the fight.

"Go get em' doggies!" Lara cheered as though she was at a football game.

The only thing that Lara forgot was that when the wolves had finally finished with the bear, they came straight for Lara, who at this point had her feet in the water, her pistols at her left side, and her boots at her right side.

"Oh shoot," Lara said, and quickly jumped up. She grasped her pistols lying on the ground, and instantly circled the pool in the direction that the wolves were going. She didn't bother to put on her boots, so she instead ran around the pool, firing bullets, barefooted. However, she stepped on a rock and screamed, falling into the pool. The wolves weren't finished yet, though, and Lara's pistols had fallen into the water as well. "This should be easy to do now." Lara grabbed her pistols that had started to sink below the water, and then fired a couple of rounds at the wolves' faces.

One of them fell to the ground, but the other one did something very peculiar before Lara could even down it; it jumped into the water and landed on top of Lara. Lara screamed for a split second, and then had an ingenious idea: she grabbed the wolf by the head and dipped herself under the surface, into the small chamber below the pool. She held her breath and merrily floated beneath the surface, drowning the wolf easily. The wolf twisted and shook at Lara, but she kept hold of him and eventually he died. Lara quickly swam back up to the surface and gasped a breath of fresh air.

"That's the modern way of defeating violent enemies." Lara took a breath and dived back down.

Let's just say that the rest of Lara's voyage through the city of Vilcabamba was rather boring. Okay, maybe the trip through the village was boring, but what followed was very interesting. How about we just leave Lara to her business, which involves finding a key, defeating some more bats, and unlocking a gate, so we can learn a bit more about what's happening in Natla's office…

**_At Natla Technologies…_**

Natla signed a couple of papers on her desk. Larson had been on his way to Peru, and Natla was all stressed out. She tried a variety of things to keep herself occupied- she played with a Rubik's cube, tried to toss old papers into her trash basket from a distance, ate a whole bag of Doritos, watched South Park on her TV, looked out her window to the sight of Las Vegas below her, twiddled her thumbs, lit a couple of matches, until finally a man walked through the door:

"Hello?" came a voice in a French accent.

"Pierre!" Natla responded.

Yes, you all know him: Pierre DuPont, a French explorer and supposed "tomb raider." Really, though, he just raids tombs for publicity and getting paid money.

"How do you do?" Pierre asked.

"Oh, just fine!" Natla said excitedly. "I've been looking forward to meeting one of the world's greatest archaeologists!"

"Yes… I understand that you will be wanting the… Scion of Crash Bandicoot, right?"

"No, I killed Crash years ago."

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PAUSE BREAK

In case you don't know who Crash Bandicoot is, he's the little marsupial that has starred in his own video game series. Back to the story.

PAUSE BRAKE FINISHED

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"Oh… then what is the name of the Scion piece?" continued Pierre.

"The Scion of Tihocan. But the name of it doesn't matter. I've got your pay right in that briefcase sitting on my desk… now I just need you to find the artifact."

"Of course. I also remember you saying that a man by the name of Lardo Crudway was to help me, right?"

"Those plans have been canceled." Natla smiled.

Pierre smiled, too. "Oh yes, this will only make my tomb raiding better than ever."

"So you'll be leaving for Greece tonight?"

"Yes I will," Pierre responded.

"Okay… the next time I see you, let's hope that you've found it!"

_**Meanwhile in Vilcabamba…**_

Lara opened the gate to exit the village and stepped forward. Around the bend in the hallway, she stepped out into a huge, subterranean cavern. A large, red temple sat at the other end. There was a mechanism on top of it, and two small doorways were on each side of the temple. A large set of double doors was in the middle. However, Lara had more to do than figure this puzzle out. A small howl came from the nearby bush.

"How many times will I have to take care of these things?"

10 seconds passed, and at that time, 5 wolves sat on the ground, motionless. You get the idea. Anyway, Lara stepped up to the temple steps, and went inside of the left-hand door. Around the bend in the narrow hallway she went, pistols drawn. But no trouble struck when she entered the next chamber, where there was a pool of water at the floor and a set of steps leading up to an opening high above. Lara walked up the steps to her right, and she kept going until something crumbled at her feet. Looking down, she saw a series of cracks forming from the wall to the other side of the stairway. Lara, in frenzy, ran quickly up the stairs. The piece of stone collapsed, sending Lara falling and the stone piece falling, too. But Lara was quick and grasped the edge of the stairway that was still there. She pulled herself up carefully. The rest of the stairway was no problem.

The tunnel through the doorway at the top of the stairs led up another ramp, which bended around until Lara reached the very upper part of the room, where a gap separated one side of a walkway from the other.

"Why does everything have to be so easy?" Lara mumbled to herself. Eating her words she did. Stepping to the gap in the walkway, she ran and jumped for the other side. Grasping the edge, she attempted to pull herself up again. Still thinking that everything was easy, she pulled herself up as the walkway began to shake and crumble almost instantly. She ran as fast as she could to the other end of the section of walkway, to the doorway in the wall. Running beneath the overhang, she ducked her head and looked behind her. Both sides of the walkway had collapsed. Smiling and pretending that she hadn't said it would be easy, she looked through the other side of the opening, which led above the mechanism of the red temple that she encountered earlier ago.

Here's how the rest of the puzzle worked: she jumped to a bar suspended by a pillar on the temple mechanism, which swung around and released one of the two locks on the double doors far below. She dropped down to the roof of the temple, dropped to the floor level, and went inside of the second small doorway on the right side of the double doors. The trip up the second pool chamber was much easier than the first. She jumped to the other side of the mechanism, opposite the one from before, and dropped down again, and then to the double doors.

And through the double doors, into the passageways beyond she went.

Yes, I know that the rest of the Vilcabamba chapter was very, very boring, but live with it. Chapter 5 should be a blast.


	5. The Lost Valley

CHAPTER 5: THE LOST VALLEY

"My life is too boring," Lara said as she walked down the passageway leading away from Vilcabamba.

Lara had been traveling through the mountain caves and the city of Vilcabamba for a while, and it had gotten a bit boring. "I wish that I had some action… or atleast something else beautiful to look at besides these walls…" and Lara saw it at the end of the next passageway. A stream of light came from an opening at the end, which blinded her eyes. Running to the end, Lara stared through the opening, into the large chamber.

A waterfall was flowing very rapidly at the far side, which created a huge vibration. There was a giant pool below the falls, and Lara could see a gigantic, wooden mechanism at the right side. Only a bit of this mechanism was actually working, and the waterfall was operating it. You see, when the water from the waterfall hit a gigantic wheel on the right side, it caused the wheel to turn, and then that wheel grinded with another one nearby it. The wheels turned together until there was nothing else to turn- that was a project that Lara was about to solve. The rest of the room was rather cavernous, and Lara could see that a channel ran from where the waterfall dropped- but a huge, stone dam was hanging from the ceiling above. Lara saw how she could possibly use this dam to stop the waterfall… but what would she need to stop the waterfall for.

"Hmmm… Qualopec's tomb should be nearby. Lara pulled out her father's journal and read a passage from it:

"_If I could find Vilcabamba, I would surely find the location of Qualopec's tomb… as well as unknown civilizations. Everyone says that dinosaurs are extinct, but Qualopec was known for his fondness of dinosaurs. I've been led to believe that there very well may be a hidden valley within the lands of Peru… unfortunately, the thick clouds and high mountains would keep anyone from finding it. There must be a secret way in from Qualopec's kingdom. As for the location of Qualopec's tomb… Qualopec would cleverly hide his, a place that nobody would look."_

Lara glanced up from where she was reading. She was staring straight at the waterfall.

"The location of Qualopec's tomb…" Lara suddenly had the idea that perhaps the Tomb of Qualopec was hidden behind the waterfall. What else would the gigantic mechanism be used for? The problem was that the mechanism needed a lot more grinding of gears (and there were so many of them on the cavern wall that weren't moving) to dam the falls. And with that, Lara set out on her journey to find how to operate it.

While she first had to defeat a pack of wolves at the floor level of the cavern, Lara traveled up the ladder leading up to the first platform on the mechanism wall. Here, there was a missing gear next to a grinding one.

"This is odd." Lara looked up, towards the waterfall. There seemed to be missing gears here and there on the mechanism. "Perhaps they've been lost…" Lara looked down again, toward the pool. "Well, until I find all of them, I shan't be operating that mechanism." Lara took a run and jump from the wooden platform, forming into a graceful swan dive for the pool of water far below. Landing beneath the surface, Lara shot down to the bottom of the pool and looked at the floor. There was a gleaming object at the bottom… Lara reached out her hand and felt a metallic, rough object fit into the palm of her hand. Surfacing to the top of the pool, Lara took a look at the object and indicated that it was a cog- a.k.a., one of the gears that Lara needed in the giant mechanism.

"Once again, my life is too easy." Lara climbed from the pool, but then noticed that a long, long ladder led up the left side of the waterfall. Lara ran up the short, stone path on the left side of the pool, and then grasped the first rung of the ladder. Pulling herself up onto the next ones, she began her long ascent up the side of the waterfall.

At one point, a couple of rungs broke as she had her feet on them, and she was left dangling for a couple of seconds, but then she quickly climbed up. Even scarier was when the rung that Lara had _both _of her hands on collapsed. Lara fell off backwards, but as she fell down below, she grasped one of the lower rungs on the ladder to keep herself from falling to her death.

"Phew," Lara gasped.

Once Lara reached the top of the ladder, she pulled herself up to see a long channel running above the top of the waterfall. Promising to herself that she'd try a swan dive into the pool of water far below later on, she went down the rocky path along the left side of the channel, into a tunnel. A couple of bats chattered above Lara, but she was quick to dispatch them with pistol bullets. The end of the tunnel led to the edge of the water channel- on the left side. A gap separated Lara from the other side, where a stone bridge had probably previously been. Taking a run and jump to the other side, Lara clung to the edge of the broken part and clambered up. The rest of the journey down the channel was easy.

That is, until Lara came to a rickety bridge with a medium-sized waterfall on the left.

Lara was singing "Ladies Love Country Boys," a country song that she loved, when all of a sudden one of the pieces of wood on the bridge fell beneath her. As she stopped singing, she realized that several more were breaking behind her. As quickly as she could, she ran across the bridge to the large alcove on the other side. However, she was too late: the bridge fell downward just as she reached the end. Flailing into the channel of water, Lara thought as quickly as she could: she grasped her grapple, which was just on her belt, and it threw it towards the ring high above on the ceiling.

Seriously, I don't know how she did it, but the grapple hook caught onto the ring. Lara dangled just a foot above the rapid waters below her, and slowly she ascended the grapple cord.

"Wow, I'm lucky," Lara mumbled under breath.

She swung and then jumped to the other side of the bridge, where another cog sat on the stone. Lara grasped it and put it into her backpack. "One more…" she said to herself. However, she noticed something else sitting by the wall.

A shotgun, just as new and as fine looking as could be, was sitting in the corner. Lara carefully walked over to it, and examined it. "Now I wonder what this is doing here?" Lara said suspiciously. She picked it up in her hands and held it tightly. It was fully loaded, and looked like just the right job for taking down any animal under the sun. She attached it to her back for future use.

Lara then decided that it was time to go. She dove into the stream below her, and the stream carried Lara clear to the other end of the rapids, and off of the giant waterfall, into the pool far below. Lara breathed a breath of fresh air when she surfaced down below, and slowly paddled to the edge, where she climbed out. Eyeing the area, she noticed nothing new or suspicious. She ascended a ladder onto the platform. A peg was inside of the wall. Lara placed the gear that she had first found on it, and the mechanism started.

"One potato," Lara said.

The cog clanked in with the one beside it, and within seconds, the cog that Lara had just inserted had grinded some more gears to life, directly above here. Gears that were much larger than she were grinding, and Lara even noticed that when she had inserted the gear, the wheels had caused a wooden stairway to project from the cavernous wall. Lara took a jump to land on it. She then jumped to a nearby ladder, which led up to a wooden platform above. At the top, Lara clambered up.

Another empty peg was stuck into the wall, next to the set of the gears that Lara had just operated.

"Two potato." Lara inserted the second cog on the peg. More gears grinded, above Lara, which operated another set of gears. This would surely help in reaching the final gear platform. Lara clambered clear up here, however, via a set of ledges and cracks, but when she found the platform, she realized that she was still missing one gear.

"Hmmm… I could have sworn that I found another one," Lara said drearily.

She backtracked to the previous cog platform, and then she noticed something about the cavernous chamber. Sets of ledges were along the back wall, which led to another side of the chamber. An opening was sitting at the side opposite Lara.

"Father wrote in his journal that Qualopec's civilization was a lost valley." Lara looked around. "I seen no signs of a lost valley from here. It must be somewhere else." Lara eyed the opening again. "And that's where the last gear is."

Seriously, I have no idea how she figures this stuff out. It's just like that she knows every location of every ammo item, health pack, and critical object in every lost civilization on Earth. I just have no clue. Maybe she just reads the civilizations like books, but man does she find the solution to every little problem as quick as a button. It also doesn't take Miss Croft very long to get from point A to point B. Want to know how she got to the opening this time? A vine was hanging above her head, stretching from the mechanism wall clear over to the opening. Need I say what she did? She grasped the vine like it was a normal, everyday piece of scenery, and she swung hand-over-hand to the opening. Perhaps she was born in a family of monkeys, but whatever she was, I still don't realize how she is so smart, lovely, and strong, all at the same time.

Through the opening, Lara followed the tunnel. Yes, the tunnel was dark, musty, gray, and overgrown with different types of plants, but not very far through the tunnel, Lara heard a howl. With a quick draw of her pistols, she blasted a shot just to see if she could hit anything. Another howl occurred after she shot, but she hadn't hit anything with the bullet. A bear was sitting there, licking his chops.

Lara decided that his called for some heavier ammunition. Whipping her shotgun out from behind her back, it didn't take long for the loud punch of the shotgun to come whistling at the bear. The hulking animal bended down in pain, but neither Lara nor the bear was ready to back off. The bear lunged at Lara, knocking her to the ground. This thus knocked the wind out of Miss Croft, but when she had fallen to the ground, the trigger on the shotgun had operated, sending a shell flying upwards, right in the bear's face. The bear let out a loud yelp, and nearly tumbled over. Lara looked up and saw what she had done: the bear was now walking around like a drunk monkey, and then pretty soon, he fell to the ground, lying there as still as a stone.

Miss Croft didn't think anything of it. As though it was like a normal job, she continued on through the cave.

Err…the tunnels that followed were a bit boring, but at the end, a glowing light came. Can you guess what this glowing light was? It led to…

THE LOST VALLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lara emerged from the tunnel into the daylight, and nothing happened at first- or, that it, nothing unusual. The valley looked like a piece of art, nothing that she had ever seen before. "Father was right," Lara commented. Bugs and flies buzzed in the plants, waterfalls ran from the sides of the valley, and an immersing glow came from the skies. The plants rustled, birds tweeted… it was an experience like she had never felt before. Although things seemed beautiful then, something startled Lara from the bushes to her left.

Drawing her pistols, Lara advanced closer to the bush. It rustled again, and Lara cocked her pistols at the bush. Then, as quick as a bullet, a monstrous looking animal jumped out of the bush and knocked Lara flat on her feet.

It was a raptor.

As quick as a gun, Lara jumped up and began firing her pistols like mad. The raptor charged at her, knocked her over several times, bit her in the chest a few times, and fought and fought until Lara pumped enough lead into it. Her troubles weren't over, however. Four more of the beasts came charging from behind, one of them jumping on Lara's back tightly. She then decided that she had best get the dirty work done with her shotgun, and grasping it from her back, she shot some shells at the raptors. Each one fell to the ground in a heap, and pretty soon, the valley was silent.

"Phew."

Unfortunately, that wasn't it. Lara walked further through the valley, towards a large overhang that stretched from one side of the other. The ground shook suddenly. A group of raptors emerged from around the corner. Instead of coming at Lara, though, they rushed off in the direction of where Lara came from.

It didn't take long for Miss Croft to realize where they were running. Almost instantly from around the same corner came a huge (and I mean HUGE), hulking dinosaur, carrying a raptor in its jaws. The big buddy was a _tyrannosaurus rex._ And it was coming right for Lara. It flung the raptor towards the wall of the valley, taking it down for sure.

"Oh no," Lara gasped. She turned around and fled in the same direction as the raptors.

The rex came charging after, and when Lara noticed that its head was coming for her, she swept herself across the ground to get away from it. A raptor ran towards Lara, apparently forgetting that the rex was nearby, in attempt to gnaw on Miss Croft's face. Like a bolt in a thunderstorm, Lara drew her shotgun and blasted the raptor backwards. The t-rex came in for another attack, and before it could chomp down, Lara jumped up and grabbed the rex's nose. The rex pulled his head upward, and Lara went right up with him. Climbing up onto his head, she hung on tight as the t-rex ran forward in dismay. He swiped his head left to right, attempting to get Lara off of it, and then Lara took out her shotgun. She carefully climbed down to the t-rex's eyes and aimed her shotgun at one of them. She pulled the trigger and the shell shot into it. The t-rex let out a LOUD yelp of pain, nearly knocking Lara off of the rex. Actually, she fell from the nose and grabbed hold of the lower jaw as the t-rex opened his mouth.

It dipped its head to the ground and she let go. The t-rex was stunned and in lots of pain. This was Lara's chance: she drew her shotgun and aimed it at the t-rex's head again. She blasted it three times, and that was enough. With an extremely loud roar (which almost broke Lara's eardrums), it fell to the ground, its head nearly collapsing on top of Lara. She immediately jumped away, her shotgun still poised on it.

With a couple of deep breaths, Lara holstered her shotgun and stepped away.

OK, this chapter has gotten long enough, but we've finally gotten to the best part, so why don't we just skip everything else that happened and go on to the Tomb of Qualopec? All right, she finds the last cog inside of an old white temple, makes her way out of the valley, heads back through the long tunnel to the waterfall, inserts the last cog, and dives into the pool of water. She then swims to the doorway behind the waterfall, and operates this button at the side to open it up. And then she's on to Qualopec's tomb…

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Phew… what a huge, long chapter. Yes, I agree that it might have been boring up until the raptors and t-rex, but I hope that you enjoyed it. Believe me, things will start getting really interesting at the start of Greece, for Lara will have a companion to mingle, argue, and chat with.

Be ready for the next chapter and more to follow!


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